304 THROUGH THE FIELDS WITH LINNAEUS 



the silvery cloud-banks rolled up massively to show the 

 blue ; the rich low ground all laid out in bulb gardens. 

 German goes next to no way in Holland, and no one 

 understood that I wanted to see the place where Linnaeus 

 once lived how should they ? Luckily, a young gentle- 

 man came up who spoke a little German. He showed 

 me the way to Hartecamp (he lived in the next villa 

 but one himself), and he spoke to the gardener for me. 

 He pointed out the name ' Te Hartecamp ' on the gates 

 and told me this was the actual and nearly unaltered 

 house of Clifford. The plant-house or architectural 

 conservatory something like the one they house orange 

 trees in at Kew was also Clifford's, and the fine vine 

 with the thick stem was here in Linnaeus's time. A row 

 of fine bushy and aged Portugal laurels grows in front of 

 the architectural conservatory. There are grand timber- 

 like oleanders, which look as if they might have seen 

 the great botanist, and ancient orange trees in tubs, and 

 purple clematis twines about the pilasters. We hear it 

 is an easy walk to Haarlem, which makes us independent 

 of trains and able to enjoy the lovely garden. 



The guide-books are wrong in saying it is a waste 

 place or wilderness ; though the glory of Hartecamp 

 perished with Clifford, it is a fine garden still, with alleys 

 and avenues in all directions, and winding sea-shell- 

 sanded paths by the ornamental water, enlivened by 

 swans and crossed by a fanciful bridge. Baedeker says, 

 1 the beautiful gardens attached to the house have long 

 since disappeared.' He must be either extremely curious 



